The Dodo Archive

Video Game Allows Players To Pretend They're Goats

An independent Swedish video game studio called Coffee Stain Studios has begun promoting its newest product, "Goat Simulator." As the name suggests, the game simulates the life of a goat for players' enjoyment. The first promotional clip for the game has already gotten nearly half a million views on YouTube, suggesting that people are potentially more interested in the everyday goings on of a goat's life than in stealing cars or ravaging villages.

The goal of the game is quite simple: run around as a goat, doing things like head-butting buckets and climbing over other objects that get in the way. Sometimes the game is violent in its own right: a potential outcome of running across the road is being hit by a car. A hope for viewers witnessing this consequence, though, is that those experiencing the first-person viewpoint of a goat will be encouraged to think a little more deeply about the animals' lives after playing this game.

Some elements of Goat Simulator appear reminiscent of more grisly first-person-shooter video games, which is the type of game Coffee Stain Studios is known for making. According to Armin Ibrisagic, the studio's PR manager, the game was initially meant to be a learning opportunity for developers, but the overwhelming public response indicates a huge demand for this animal-centric game.

"We are discussing what more we can do with Goat Simulator now that people have shown such an interest in it, but we don't want to promise anything," Ibrisagic told Vice Motherboard. "We're going to listen to people's opinions in the coming couple of days and see how it goats."